Pd-nanodot decorated MoS2 nanosheets as a highly efficient photocatalyst for the visible-light-induced Suzuki–Miyaura coupling reaction

In this work, we demonstrate that the incorporation of MoS2 nanosheets with Pd nanodots is a promising way for promoting the visible-light-induced Suzuki–Miyaura C–C coupling reaction. The MoS2 nanosheets decorated with Pd nanodots showed very high photocatalytic activity. The turnover frequency for the biphenyl product was >1600 h−1 even under sunlight illumination at room temperature. Mechanistic studies show that the high catalytic activity originated from the efficient electron–hole pair generation mechanism of MoS2 under visible-light illumination instead of purely thermal effects.